Overview

Bruce Johnstone seems to have lived many lives: farm hand, fruit picker, navy seaman, real estate agent, insurance agent, publican, SP bookie, two-up operator, jail inmate, confidante and friend to sporting stars and underworld figures. Actually, Bruce Johnstone only lived a few of those lives. Bruce the Bookie lived them all as one of Melbourne's most well-known, well-connected and well-liked SP bookies and two-up operators. In Bruce the Bookie you will take a colourful trip with a colourful character as he runs from punters with guns and the police, builds a successful legitimate business, but still has a hankering for illegal SP bookmaking. You will get some inside information on The Great Bookie Robbery, learn how Bruce's debt collector got away with murder only to meet his own grisly ending, and experience jail from the inside, where Bruce the Bookie still managed to operate. Bruce the Bookie challenges authority, rubs shoulders with the famous and infamous, including Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs and the last man hanged in Victoria, Ronald Ryan. An entertaining read that will have you chuckling and shaking your head at the same time, wondering how one man could achieve and cram so much into one life.

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9781921332630

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